Saturday Morning Coffee

Welcome, friends! The skies have cleared, the coffee’s hot, and it’s shaping up to be a beautiful morning.

Is it really Saturday already? That means one whole week of summer break is gone. Oh my.

Monday was Memorial Day here in the United States – our first without Mr. Tom.

While he would understand our sadness, he was never one to mope about, so we didn’t either. We got Mom and Dad and Sarah out of the house for a few hours by going to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was all right, but I was unhappy with the ending – even more so when Krystal told me this would be the last movie in the franchise. Still, I’d see it again.

Then we came back and had a cookout over at Mom and Dad’s. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips (crisps for those in the UK), salad, and even dill pickles. For dessert: strawberry shortcake with plenty of “whipped topping”. Notice that it wasn’t “whipped cream”. Oh well, take what you can get, am I right?

All in all, a good day, if bittersweet.

Tuesday I binge watched House of Cards on Netflix. I’m not quite sure about all the online dissatisfaction I’m seeing with this installment; personally, I thought it one of the best for the powerful fourth-wall-breaking monologues/soliloquies. And not just from Francis, either. Without giving anything away, here’s a good summation of season 5:

Wednesday I went back to school to finish cleaning my desk and cabinets. I received my schedule, so I also counted books for next year and tracked down the supplemental materials folders. My principal and I also started planning some events for next year we first discussed back in March. I’ve really only one brand new class this year, and it looks like I get to write it from scratch. Fun times! Really, though. I do enjoy it.

Thursday I continued cleaning. Yes, our Spring Cleaning has turned into Summer Cleaning. We’ve thrown out dozens of garbage cans’ worth of trash, and donated about half a dozen trash bags full of clothes to Goodwill. Thursday I began washing the remaining clothes. Only 6/7ish weeks until family comes to visit. My folks and my sister are coming; huzzah!

Friday I wrote. I worked on some (for now) private projects and that new class I told you about. Krystal broke up the monotony by asking if I wanted to join her for lunch. We ended up at a Japanese place where she had a bento box and I had steamed rice with vegetables. That afternoon I started feeling really bad, but let’s face it: I’d felt that way all week what with all the storms we’ve been having. Come to find out, Krystal felt that way, too. So, it could be something we both ate (salad with ranch and a bowl of clear soup), the weather, or stress.

Today, I wage war on the ants that have infested my lawn. I’d do some weeding, but the sun’s already up. Looks like that’ll have to wait for another day. That’s OK, though; I’m going to get some weed & grass killer and go nuclear on some areas.

So, what have you been up to?